Outriders - Review In Progress

2 years 11 months ago

Review codes for Outriders went out a day before launch, so I haven't been able to explore every nook and cranny of People Can Fly's cooperative shooter/RPG, but from what I have played, I can say I'm enjoying my time with it immensely. This game is chaos in the best possible way, evoking thoughts of games like Borderlands, Gears of War, and People Can Fly's other original title, Bulletstorm. 

I love shooters and RPGs, and the setup of Outriders amalgamates these genres. The experience is macabre; it has a dark narrative that centers on survival, the ability to adapt, and the journey to proving you're the biggest badass on the playground. That storyline is more immersive than I expected, and while it takes a little bit to pick up, it eventually becomes a cacophony of in-your-face action. That action coincides with a tale that rests within sci-fi fantasy but holds a modicum of truth regarding human instincts and how we react when there is nothing left to lose and everything to lose at the same time.

Author
Liana Ruppert

Outriders Launch Trailer Shows off Tons of Gunslinging Fun

2 years 11 months ago

Earlier today, the Nvidia GeForce YouTube channel released the official launch trailer for Outriders from the studio People Can Fly. This combination of third-person shooter and RPG is out now on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.

There’s very little that they could have shown to surprise those anticipating the launch of this game. The last Square Enix Presents already had a major blowout of info that took up around 22% of the 38-minute-long presentation.

But it’s hard to complain about seeing more of this game. The Outriders launch trailer featured about half and half cinematics and gameplay. It’s very clear which is which, but the gameplay still looks fantastic.

The glowing enemy creatures all look equally intimidating and terrifying. And the towering beasts you see in the trailer look like they’ll give you a rough time. You’ll surely need a few friends to topple these massive enemies.

The skills of the different classes are also shown off throughout the Outriders launch trailer. The Techromancer, Pyromancer, Devastator, and Trickster are all featured along with their unique skills. And of course, there’s plenty of gunplay.

You can check out the Outriders official launch trailer down below.

Author
Omar Banat

Tags

Game Infarcer: Future Call Of Duty Updates Will Be 50GB And Will Erase A Loved One From Your Memory

2 years 11 months ago

The install size of Call of Duty updates have ballooned to the point where physical memory won’t be enough anymore. Instead of finding better methods of file compression, Activision instead announced that future updates will instead take up a portion of the player’s actual memory.

Unfortunately, just as with physical drives, your brain can only handle so much memory – especially when that data contains the sharpest textures and flashiest particle effects in the business. Activision warns that Call of Duty updates are now large enough to overwrite cherished memories, whether they be a first kiss, the birth of a child, or how to stop on roller skates.

“When weighing the price of buying a new hard drive versus the free cost of erasing likely unwanted memories, we assumed our players wouldn’t mind forgetting a wedding or two if it meant enjoying the latest season of Warzone,” says Activision executive Ronald Bueller.

A younger Call of Duty player we spoke to over Zoom cocked her head sideways when we asked if her parents were aware of the change. “My what now?” she responded, confused. The player was also incapable of providing her name.

Not everyone seems bothered by the change. “It’s hard to get mad about the updates when you can’t remember what you lost in the first place,” says Shannon Smith, a top ranked Modern Warfare player. “I’d rather agonize over which mother-in-law to forget than be forced to uninstall Destiny 2 or Red Dead...something.”

Author
Darth Clark

EWS podcast episode 135: the best co-op games

2 years 11 months ago

After what's becoming a chillingly regular meditation on the concept of Matthew extinguishing the lives of astronauts, this week's podcast waded into some staunch reminiscence about classic co-op games on PC. Indeed, with Alice away this week, the boys were really method-acting the theme: two extraorfinarily buff soldiers, grimacing with war-weary determination against a horde of meandering, half-on-topic anecdotes.

Nate got way too excited about his idea for a Dance Dance Revolution mod based on Pacific Rim, Matthew got to show some love for the adorably brutish Gears Of War series, and stern warnings were given on the damage that Overcooked can do to relationships. The Cavern of Lies featured a short and utterly brutal RPG adaptation of the first level of Halo 2.

Read more

Author
Nate Crowley

PUBG has an April Fools' arcade minigame where you fight chickens

2 years 11 months ago

It's April Fools' Day, and aside from being a living nightmare for journalists around the world, it's also an opportunity for game developers to put out some very silly stuff. This year it seems PUBG Corp has taken up the gauntlet, releasing an arcade-style minigame for PUBG where you fight chickens. And it's called POBG (short for Playeromnomnom's Battlegrounds) - although that doesn't exactly solve the debate on how to pronounce the acronym. I'm going with pob-guh.

The minigame can be accessed through PUBG's main menu, where it appears as a little arcade cabinet. POBG is based on a pixel art version of PUBG maps (inspired by the work of artist Alexey "Gas13" Garkushin). Having played it for a couple of levels, I have to say, it's a surprisingly high-quality April fool. Players must shoot their way through "rooms" full of chickens, who parachute from the sky and immediately start firing semi-automatics in your general direction. (The choice of chickens is a reference to what happens when you win a regular PUBG game, which gives you the famous message "winner winner chicken dinner".) You can pick up ammo, health and different weapons along the way, and find cover behind various crates and pieces of debris. Once you've cleared a stage, you can also acquire various bonus abilities to help you collect some chicken dinners.

Tags

Battle Blocky Bugs In Earth Defense Force: World Brothers This May

2 years 11 months ago

Remember when two Earth Defense Force games were announced last June? One of them was World Brothers, a more cartoony take on what’s already an absurd, over-the-top franchise. Developer Yuke’s and D3 Publisher has dropped a new trailer revealing the summer release date and showcases more of the game's blockier take on bug-slaying. 

World Brother’s launches May 27 and is now coming to PC in addition to PS4 and Switch. The game is still all about blasting giant bugs as well as robots and aliens, but that action is rendered in more lighthearted voxel graphics. Personally, I think the look works for the series, and it’s especially nice if you’re sensitive to looking at giant, realistic bugs (including spiders). Take a look at the new release date trailer below to see if you agree.

Click here to watch embedded media

Author
Marcus Stewart

Twin Peaks-inspired classic Mizzurna Falls gets new fan translation patch

2 years 11 months ago

For fans of obscure PlayStation games and the TV series Twin Peaks, the 1998 PlayStation adventure Mizzurna Falls has been a bit of a white whale. Several translation efforts have been released over the years, but a new patch doesn't just translate it—it also fits the game back onto a disc.

An update on the ROMhacking site details the history of the translation, including the most notable effort involving translator Resident Evie and PlayStation hacker Gemini. While the project did eventually manage to fully translate the game's script, it fizzled out because of one problem: it was too large to fit onto a PlayStation disc.

A new effort from two other developers, nikita600 and Cirosan, uses Evie's script as a base to create a working translation patch. Nikita created a new compression algorithm to fit more text on the disc than was previously possible, and Cirosan—with Evie's blessing—did a fundamental rewrite and edit of Evie's script that was able to fit. So, after months of work on this specific patch and even longer overall, Mizzurna Falls can now be patched to run on a PlayStation disc.

Author
Eric Van Allen

Game Infarcer: Guy Who Called Devs Lazy Spends Day Watching Boss-Tips Videos

2 years 11 months ago

Hank Jarvis, 24, spent much of Saturday morning complaining to his roommate about Bloodborne. His latest complaint centered on the fact that he couldn’t see the characters behind various doors and windows, and he had to interact with disembodied voices instead. “[From Software] are so freaking lazy!” he shouted before pausing the game to watch a video on how to kill the Maneater Boar after encountering the beast and immediately getting trampled to death.

“This is such lazy game design,” he exclaimed after finally felling the creature, thanks to the help from a tutorial video that showed how to roll away from the big pig’s attacks. “It’s not even really that hard. They just make bosses do unfair stuff to make the game seem longer. Lazy.”

Jarvis' anger increased when he encountered the Shadow of Yharnam boss. “Oh my god,” he yelled. “This is just three of the same guys! They couldn’t even be bothered to make three different guys. Unbelievable.”

His roommate, Patricia Jarvis, 49, pointed out that each of the three Shadows appeared to have different weapons and attack patterns, which elicited more ranting from Jarvis. “This sucks. I’m not wasting my time with this garbage,” Jarvis said, before watching several additional tutorial videos. Hours later, after being repeatedly burned, stabbed, and killed by snakes, Jarvis finally defeated the trio. “After all that hard work, there wasn’t even a cool death animation or anything. How hard could that be?!”

Author
Darth Clark

New Humankind Trailer Shows the Power of Diplomacy in Action

2 years 11 months ago

Today Sega and Amplitude released a brand new trailer of the upcoming 4X strategy game Humankind.

The trailer focuses on showcasing the diplomacy features in the game, which is definitely welcome since this tends to be a very weak spot in other popular 4X and strategy franchises.

The suite of tools at your disposal seems rather solid here, and you can take a look in the trailer below.

If you’re unfamiliar with Humankind, here’s an official description. You can also read my own preview.

“HUMANKIND is Amplitude Studios’ magnum opus, a Historical Turn-Based Strategy game where YOU will re-write the entire narrative of humankind – a convergence of culture, history, and values that allows you to create a civilization that is as unique as you are.

Create your own civilization by combining 60 historical cultures from the Bronze to the Modern Age.

Begin as Ancient Egypt, then evolve into the Romans, the Khmers, or perhaps the Vikings.

Each culture brings its own special gameplay layer, leading to near-endless outcomes.”

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

Tags

Remedy Posts April Fool's Joke With Trailer Showcasing Control On PS1, And Now We Want It

2 years 11 months ago

It's April Fool's Day, which means nothing is sacred and everything is a lie. While we're celebrating with the return of Game Infarcer, Remedy Entertainment decided to celebrate by joking that you can now play Control on PlayStation 1. When the studio shared a trailer of what could Control would look like on PS1, they accidentally made us all really want it. 

The team behind Control took to Twitter to share their own contribution to April 1 and the replies show that I am very much not alone in being interested in this demake: 

Author
Liana Ruppert

120fps is a game-changer for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 on PS5 and Xbox Series consoles

2 years 11 months ago

We've been massively enthusiastic about Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 in the past - Vicarious Visions revamped and modernised a brilliant game for PC, PS4 and Xbox One consoles while retaining the core genius of its original incarnations. It's one of John Linneman's top games of 2020 and I'm happy to report that the next generation update for the game is highly impressive - though the upgrade process itself could be better, and if you've already bought it, Activision wants more of your money for the latest rendition of the code. The good news is that the upgrades themselves are excellent - at least in our experience.

With that said, it seems that some users have had issues and we're not entirely sure why, as we didn't encounter any problems with the game during testing. Maybe the fact that we were given specific Xbox Series and PlayStation 5 review codes allowed us to side-step some of the problems others are facing - no upgrade was needed, no existing code was sat on our hard drives - but the fact is that the game just worked with no problems in the time we spent with it. Your mileage may vary of course, but fingers crossed that any outstanding issues will be resolved sooner rather than later because whether you're gaming on PS5, Series X or Series S, the improvements are palpable.

Tags

Someone rounded up all of the Switch's top-scoring games that you can beat in four hours or less

2 years 11 months ago

Anyone remember when the Switch came out?

Those initial eShop flood gates? Who could forget...Vroom in the Night Sky, arguably an early low point? Or Kamiko? An amazing high point? Well, there's been a lot of games since that initial period, and Redditor yuxbni76 managed to wrangle up a very choice selection of them.

Cleverly, yuxbni76 hand-picked 144 games with a "75+ Metacritic score that you can beat in four hours." It's simple and elegant. And informative! If you're looking for a rainy day weekend game, these sorts of things can be perfect to just grab and go with.

There's a ton of gems in there, some old, some new. Check out the below list for a starting place, and a good idea of what this missive has to offer.

Top scoring Switch games [Google Sheets via Reddit]

Someone rounded up all of the Switch's top-scoring games that you can beat in four hours or less screenshot

Read more...
Author
Chris Carter

The Pokemon Company just sent this bizarre Bidoof email to everyone with a Pokemon account

2 years 11 months ago

It's April Fools', which means I should be laughing and smiling more. But I'm not!

The "holiday" has become somewhat of a farce in recent years, with publishers trying to get in on the "fun" by marketing real games that end up disappointing or fake games that would be amazing but never get made. "Fun!"

But sometimes, a company kind of knocks it out of the park. And when I got a very spammy looking email from The Pokemon Company just titled "Bidoof," I knew I just had to click on it, even if it was leeching my bank account info in real time.

Sure enough, the email contains a gif of a pack of Bidoofs, and by clicking the only link (titled Bidoof), you'll be whisked away to the below music video...featuring the many faces of Bidoof.

This is some "Sonic Twitter" style harmless wholesome fun. I'm so into it. Bidoof.

The Pokemon Company just sent this bizarre Bidoof email to everyone with a Pokemon account screenshot

Read more...
Author
Chris Carter

This Resident Evil Cosplayer Takes Lady Dimitrescu Cosplay To A Whole New Level

2 years 11 months ago

Resident Evil Village looks cool and all, but what we all can't stop talking about is the Big Tall Vampire Lady, also known as Lady Dimitrescu. This massively tall character took the gaming world by storm – it even took over the KFC Dating Sim game – and now one Resident Evil cosplayer is upping the ante when it comes to Lady Dimitrescu cosplay (not that cosplay is a competition, as long as you're having fun!). 

The cosplayer in question is Candy with the wonderful photography and makeup done by @MilliganVick. The result from this pairing? A cosplay so good it could be in a movie: 

Author
Liana Ruppert

Fortnite now has the stonks man

2 years 11 months ago

Stonks man is now in Fortnite.

The CGI creation - a cross between Jeff Bezos and a crash test dummy - is known online for his presence on memes to do with the stock market.

His popularity has only risen further this year - like the soaring stonks he illustrates - because of last month's GameStop stock market shenanigans.

Read more

Tags

Microsoft Flight Simulator – London Oxford Airport Review (Pilot Plus)

2 years 11 months ago

Third-party developer Pilot Plus recently released its brand new rendition of London Oxford Aiport (EGTK) for Microsoft Flight Simulator

Despite the name, which is a rather recent rebranding for what was previously called Kidlington Airport, it’s about 60 miles from London. Yet, it’s a prominent destination for business aviation and flight training.

You can find it on Orbx Direct for approximately $18. This means that installing and keeping it updated is a breeze thanks to the Orbx Central client.

If you want to see what it looks like with your own eyes, the first video below showcases an ILS approach and landing on runway 19, while the second provides a better look at the airport in a variety of lighting and weather conditions.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

Tags

4 Questions We Need Answered in Part 2 of Attack on Titan’s Final Season

2 years 11 months ago

Attack on Titan‘s final season has just ended… well, at least for the time being anyway. Fans of the series were thrilled to hear that the show will be extending its final season with a part 2 that is set to air next Winter, 2022.

This seems like the most logical choice for the series as the first half of the season ended on a huge cliffhanger. If you’re caught up on the manga then odds are you understand how much content is left to be covered, and while the show’s studio, MAPPA, could have elected to cram it all into a movie, a lot of content would have had to be cut in order to do so.

Now that we know part 2 is coming and while we have a whole year to wait around for it, we decided to list a few of the biggest questions we have that need to be answered by the time the series fully comes to an end next Winter.

(All Images credited to Wit Studio/Mappa)

Here are four questions we need answered in part 2 of Attack on Titan’s final season.

Spoilers incoming.

Author
James Reid

Tags